A Woman's Work
by Aaunty Pasta
Summary: A serial killer is keeping the crime lab hopping, but when a tie to the lab is discovered, lives are put in danger. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! 'specially the REVIEW part


A Woman's Work

By Auntie Pasta

Summary: A serial killer is prowling Las Vegas. As Nick and Grissom investigate, they find that the killer has a connection to the crime lab.

Rating: PG

Pre-Season 5

Excerpts are from the song "A Woman's Work" on the SheDaisy album "Sweet Right Here." This is my very first Song-fic, so be nice.

_Ruby's got a government that rules inside her head  
__A third eye, a crystal ball, her momma always said,  
__It would guide her  
__If she kept it inside her._

Ruby turned the TV off at the knock at the door and pulled the offending object open only to find her sister's ex-husband standing in the doorway.

" 'Ello Ruby," he said in the Aussie accent that had driven her sister wild. It drove Ruby nuts.

"You're supposed to be in jail," Ruby said.

"Never heard of probation?" he sneered as he pushed past her. "I've come to collect my wife."

"You don't belong with her anymore, remember?" Ruby snapped as her head began to buzz. "She divorced you while you were in jail."

"Legally, yeah," he replied as he lounged on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table. "But those vows we took said 'till death do we part." He grinned a crooked smile at her. "She ain't dead, is she?"

_Take the garbage out,_ whispered through Ruby's head. She nodded with a slight smile of her own. "No," she answered him as she closed the door. "She ain't."

Still the voices shout 

_Take the garbage out!_

Gil Grissom shone his light down on the tear in the trash bag and the face that peaked out. Bloody and cold, eyes glazed and staring, the man's throat had been cut to the spine.

The trash man had grabbed the bag to throw into the truck when it tore and blood had spilled out on to the ground next to the alley trash bin. Large amounts of blood. He had dropped it where it lay and called the police. Now Gil and fellow CSI Nick Stokes were examining the area and neither relished having to go through the evidence.

"There's nothing in the immediate area," Nick told his boss. "I'll go through what little we have gathered when we get back to the lab and see if I can't make any sense out of it." He walked on down the alley to examine the other trash bins further down.

Gil stood and nodded to the Medical Examiner, David Phillips, who came forward with another man from the coroner's office. Together, they carefully picked up the plastic wrapped bundle and put it on the stretcher.

As they left, Gil lifted the lid to the nearby trash bin and peered in. He dug around in the trash for a few minutes before pulling out a trash bag identical to the one the body had been in. Carefully, he untied the knot that closed the bag and looked in. On top was a full vacuum cleaner bag that spit dust at him as he set the entire bag on the ground. He pushed it aside and pushed further onto the darkness of the bag, lighting up the contents with his flashlight. Paper towels, apple peels, a piece of dried-out birthday cake lay in the bag, and, at the very bottom, a broken butcher knife.

It looked clean but Gil knew better so he pulled a swab from his kit. He dropped a drop of chemical on it before swabbing the length of the blade and dropping a different chemical on the end of the swab. It turned pink. That was to be expected. It was, after all, a butcher knife. Next, he swabbed the cotton tip in the test area of a tester to see if he got a human result. He was not surprised when two parallel lines stared up at him, indicating a positive result. The blood on the knife was human. Whether or not it was the victim's would have to wait until they got back to the lab.

As Gil bagged the pieces of the knife, Nick called out to him. "I think you'd better take a look at this."

Gil joined his younger colleague on the other side of a bin further down the alley. A muddy red circle was highlighted in the light of Nick's flashlight. Nick held up a test like the one Gil himself had just used. It too was positive for human blood.

He knelt down and sniffed. "Lemon," he muttered.

Nick nodded as he knelt down next to him. "I noticed that," he said. "Some kind of cleaner, probably. Someone might have dumped a carpet cleaner out here."

Gil nodded. "You get a sample?"

"Just about to," Nick replied.

"Grissom?" came a voice from behind them causing them both to jump. "What's going on?"

Nick's flashlight shone in the face of Prue Rien. She was one of Ecklie's people. One of the few Gil could tolerate.

"Garbage man found a body out here," Gil replied. "Why are you here?"

Prue pointed back up the alley where she had come from. "I live just up the alley with my sister. I was taking out my garbage when I saw you two lurking in the shadows so I came to see what was going on."

"I'm sure we can get this taken care of quickly," Nick said.

"I didn't say you couldn't," Prue snapped back. She had never gotten along well with Nick. Gil was glad they didn't have to work together. "I just came to see what was going on." She gestured back down the alley. "I just finished a double and was taking the trash out. I'm going back home now." She bowed as if bowing to royalty. "If that's OK with you."

Gil held grabbed Nick's arm as he started forward to give her a retort. Nick looked him in the face and stopped to calm himself. Prue had learned early on which buttons to push to tick him off and Gil had the feeling she was in the mood to start pushing. And Nick would rarely back off when she did.

"Bad day?" Gil asked.

"I come home from pulling a double to find my sister had decided to paint the living room bright red," she shook her head. "I never know what she's going to pull next. She's only redecorated twelve times since we moved in six months ago."

Behind Gil, Nick snorted. "Get the sample," Gil told him and started down the alley with Prue. "Your sister is usually home all day, isn't she?"

Prue nodded. "You think she might have heard something?"

"Possible," Gil responded.

Prue nodded. "She plays her stereo full blast when everyone is at work. It's possible, but unlikely."

Gris nodded in understanding. "What's her name? I'll have Brass talk to her."

"Ruby," Prue replied.

_The freak across the street tried to contaminate her skin  
__She was thinkin' who would miss him  
__The world about to end  
__And he fit perfectly  
__Into her catastrophe._

He made a pass at her again. The notice they had gotten in the mail had said he was a child molester. _No one would miss him, _the voices said. _No one._

A light fell across her bed and the voices fell silent. "You asleep?"

"I was," Ruby replied as she rolled to look at her sister. "Something wrong?"

"You hear or see any unusual activity in the neighborhood this afternoon?"

"No," Ruby replied. "Not a thing."

"Sent his prints to CODIS," Nick told Gil as he moved down the hall to catch up with the older man. Gil stopped and turned to listen. "I got a hit." He held the printout up. "Foster Rien."

"What was the charge?" Gil asked.

"He spent six years in jail in Colorado for beating his wife and almost killing her," Nick replied. "He'd had a long string of arrests for abuse but that was the last straw for his wife. Got time off for good behavior and was released a few months ago."

"The wife's name there anywhere?"

Nick shook his head. "She requested her name not be used in exchange for her testimony."

"I'll have Brass look into it," Gil said. "Meanwhile, we've got to join Dr Robbins for the autopsy."

Unfortunately, Robbins had nothing to help the investigation, except one small thing. With the lights in the morgue off, he held an ALS over a spot on the victim's face. Faintly, a small set of lip prints could be seen on his cheek. "I didn't notice it until I started to wash the blood away. You might be able to get some DNA but...," he shrugged and flipped the light back on. "Sorry."

"Not your fault, doc," Nick said as Gil started rubbing at the mark with a swab.

"We may be able to get something..." Gil began when the door opening interrupted him. Nick's soft groan told him who the newcomer was.

"Hello, Prue," Robbins said cheerfully. "You're here early."

"Just wondering if you have the tox back on the girl that came in yesterday," she asked, ignoring Nick but giving Gil a slight nod.

Robbins turned to pull the requested file from the stack. "Heroin OD," he said.

"I thought so," she said as she glanced to the body that Gil had gone back to studying. "This the guy from the trash?" she asked, her brow furrowed, shock evident in her eyes.

Gil looked over his glasses at her. "Yes, why?"

She shook off the shock and was now visibly upset. She swallowed. "No reason," she replied and made a beeline for the door.

Gil looked after her with concern. He handed off the swab to Nick. "Get this down to DNA," he said before pulling off the rubber gloves he wore and heading off after Prue.

He caught up to her just after she went out the front door and stopped to take a deep breath of air. "You knew him," he said.

Prue looked at him and nodded. Gil waited for an explanation.

Prue shook her head. "I didn't even know he was in town," she told him. "I don't want to talk about it, really."

"You can talk to me," Gil said softly. "Off the record. Or I'll have to call Brass in and it will be on the record."

She took a deep breath. "We were married." She said. "I divorced him when he beat me almost to death."

"Six years ago?"

Prue nodded. "I finished school and moved down here. I don't know how he found me." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Time of death puts you at work when he was killed, so you're not a suspect," Gil said. "But where was your sister at the time?"

Prue blinked. "She was at the store buying paint," she replied. "I have the receipt at home."

Gil nodded. "I'm going to need to see it," he said. "To rule her out."

She nodded. "I'll go home and get it."

Ruby was getting ready to go out when Prue got home. "Where you headed?" Prue asked.

"Just to run some errands," Ruby replied as her sister started digging through a file of receipts. "What are you looking for?"

"The receipt for that paint you bought yesterday," Prue replied.

"You can't take it back you know," Ruby replied, matter-of-factly.

"I know, I just..." Prue stopped looking through the file and looked at Ruby. "I need it, OK. Where is it?"

"I threw it out."

"You WHAT!" Prue exclaimed. "Why did you throw it out?"

"I didn't need it anymore," she stated. "I got the living room all painted."

Prue sighed. "Which trash?"

"I don't know. It got taken out."

Prue ran a hand through her hair, frustrated. She was about to speak when her pager beeped. She pulled it out and looked at it. "I've got to get to work," she told her sister. "Find that receipt."

"OK!" Ruby said. "I'll find it, I promise."

_She's a woman at heart and a man on a mission  
__A Saint to purify the human condition  
__She's a fortune teller, but she's never gonna tell  
__There's a worm in the bottom of a dead wishing well_

Prue knelt down next to the trash bag covered bodies. There were three of them. They had been found at the dump in an active area. All had been killed in a different way but all had been disposed of in the same manner. They had all been thrown in the trash.

The victim nearest Prue, a woman with black hair and brown eyes, had been shot in the temple. The second, a bald man with bruised knuckles, had been strangled. The third, a young man who had been well groomed had had his head bashed in. All three had been found in trash bags, torn open by the equipment that was meant to bury the trash in layers.

Due to the similarity of the disposals to Gil's case, Ecklie required her to call him in on it. "I'll call Nick," Gil had said.

Now they joined her on the pile of trash, looking down on the figures. "Same mode of disposal," Prue told them. She pointed to each. "Vic one, shot. Vic two, strangled. Vic three blunt force trauma."

"Did you have them moved here?" Nick asked.

Prue looked sharply at him. "I got pictures." She pointed to a long marker sticking out of the trash nearby. "And I marked the spots where the bodies were found."

"I just...," Nick started to spit back at her when Gill interrupted.

"Nick, Prue," he began in warning. "Each of you take a marker and I'll take a marker. Look for anything that could tell where the bodies came from or where they were dumped."

Nick nodded and took the one farthest away. When he was out of earshot, Gil grabbed Prue's arm, stopping her. "Please don't bait Nick today. He's just trying to do his job."

"So am I," Prue replied.

"Then stick to it, please," Gil said and headed to his own site.

Prue took a breath of the putrid air and wrinkled her nose. Behind her as she started work on her own site, the Medical Examiner loaded the three bodies into the coroner's van.

_She was raised to believe that you get what you pray for  
__If God was really good then she wouldn't have to wait for  
__Him to drop the gavel, so she'll do it all herself  
__There's a worm in the bottom of a dead wishing well_

"They all have records?" Prue asked incredulously.

Gil nodded. "Victim number two, Janine Burley, was arrested and served time for child molestation," he stopped and Nick continued for him.

"Vic three, Alan Madison, beat his girlfriend on a daily basis. Served time for it but not much. Vic four, Buck Trophyl, son of a Senator from California, was arrested for rape and convicted but his dad pulled some strings and got him probation."

"Slap on the wrist," Prue said with a shake of her head.

"It happens sometimes despite all of our hard work," Gil replied. "What about the trash?"

Prue headed to a map on the wall. "This is where victim number one was found a few nights ago," she said as she made a mark on the area in question. Moving her pen to an area near where the map said 'Henderson', she circled an area. "Burley's body was found amongst trash that came from this area." She circled a section across town. "Madison was amongst trash from here."

"Seedy part of town," Nick commented.

Prue shrugged and went on. She circled an area near one end of the strip. "Trophyl's body was found in trash from the strip."

"Near where the tourists play," Gil said.

"And nowhere near where the others were dumped," Prue mentioned.

Gil studied the map closely. "These are the only two even remotely close to each other," he said with a gesture to the first two marked. He thought for a minute. "Did you find that receipt for the paint?"

"Ruby thinks she threw it out," Prue told him. "Before I could go through the cans, I got paged. Haven't had a chance to check since."

"Well, go now," Gil ordered. "Take Nick."

Nick rolled his eyes but Prue ignored him. "I think Ruby and I can find it on our own," Prue pointed out.

"One more set of eyes will get it found faster," Gil said.

It was Prue's turn to roll her eyes. "We're on it," she said and she followed Nick out, passing Catherine as she watched from the doorway.

"Was that wise?" Catherine asked.

"Probably not," Gil replied as he studied the map. "Let's just hope they don't kill each other while trying to find this serial killer." He turned to face her. "What's going on?"

"I just got back from number five and Sara from six," Catherine said. "Warrick is at number seven just now."

Gil shook his head. "Someone has been really busy."

"It's got to be here, somewhere," Prue said as she sifted through another trashcan that she had dumped on the floor.

"If she took it out to the bin..." Nick began.

Prue groaned. "I'll go get the bags from out back."

Nick joined her in the back yard. "Where is your sister anyway?"

Prue shook her head as she handed him one of the bags and tore a second one open to dump it on the back lawn. "I don't know," she replied. "I'm surprised she isn't here." She looked at the darkening sky. "She doesn't like being out after dark." Frustrated, she threw a handful of trash in the air.

"Hey," Nick grasped her arm then touched her face, holding his gloved hand there. "It's OK, we'll find it."

Prue took a breath and looked at Nick. "I know. I'm just scared."

"Of what?"

"I think Ruby..."

"Don't," Nick said and shook his head. "Don't think the worst until we know for sure."

Slowly, Prue nodded and looked back down at the piles of trash. "OK," she said.

Nick released her face and they searched in silence. Both pulled out their flashlights and searched through the rubbish as the yard got darker. Finally, Prue pulled a slip of paper from the pile.

"I found it," she said. "What was the TOD on Vic number one?"

"Around noon," Nick replied.

Prue looked upset. "The timecode says 5:00 p.m."

"Do you have Luminol in your kit?"

Prue nodded. Minutes later, they stood in the middle of her pitch-black living room and she sprayed the walls, the couch, the floor. All glowed as soon as the fine spray touched it.

"God, no," Prue breathed.

_She found it funny that nine and ten were easier to do  
__After she'd meticulously filtered out a few  
__Still the voices shout  
__Take the garbage out!_

Ruby was about to cut through the backyard into the house when Prue burst through the gate and pulled the garbage bags out of it. Ruby ducked down behind the nearest bin and out of sight until she disappeared back into the yard. Quietly, Ruby moved down the alley until she was next to the bin her sister had just emptied. She climbed up on it and peered into her own backyard.

Prue knelt on the ground, frantically searching through the trash with a man who was sifting with her. Suddenly, she stopped and threw a handful of the trash in the air. The man grabbed her arm then touched her face. Ruby couldn't hear what they were saying, but she didn't like the way he had touched her. Like Foster used to when they had first met. And he had almost killed her. She hopped down from the bin and walked back down the alley. She hated the dark, but there was no way she could go home.

The voices screamed in her head and she covered her ears against the noise. "No, no, no," she muttered and she started to run down the alley away from her home.

Doctor Albert Robbins stood between nine and ten as they lay out on the autopsy tables. "I haven't been this busy in years," he told Catherine and Grissom. "Nine and ten." He gestured to the woman on his right. "Nine, Allison Waters, was suffocated. She came up as an abuser. Kids were taken away two years ago while she was in prison. Nothing changed when she got out last month." He turned to his left. "Ten is Mr. Nathan Alexander. Convicted serial rapist with at least ten victims under his belt. He was stabbed ten times."

"One for each victim," Gil commented. "Each victim has four things in common. Body dumped with the trash, trace of lipstick and/or DNA on their faces, convictions that were for violent crimes..."

"And violent deaths," Catherine finished.

"Let's see if we can't stop there from being a number eleven," Gil said.

Prue sat sipping coffee in the break room. It felt like the first break she had had in a week. She couldn't go home, as her living room was a crime scene, and she didn't feel like going to a hotel so she just hung out in the break room. She sighed and laid her head on the table. No deaths in forty-eight hours made her think that Ruby had possibly left town. She had just dozed off when her phone rang. She looked at the screen. Ruby Miller. She answered it.

"Ruby?"

"Yeah, sis," Ruby's voice came over the phone.

"Where are you?" She exclaimed. "You haven't been killing these people have you?"

"They deserve it," Ruby said, tears evident in her voice. "For hurting the people they supposedly love." A small gasp told Prue that her sister was crying. "For hurting you."

"Please come in, Ruby," Prue said. "Let me take care of you."

"I can't," she said. "I have to take the garbage out."

"No more Ruby," Prue said. "No more."

"I won't let anyone hurt you anymore," Ruby said. "He won't hurt you like Foster did."

"Who Ruby? Who?"

"I have to take the garbage out," she repeated before the phone went dead.

"Ruby," Prue said into the phone. Her mind worked, wondering where Ruby could have gone. Thinking maybe there was a clue at home, she headed there.

She signed the list held by the officer at the door and went inside. Her sister's room was spotless and she remembered the night they had found Foster's body in the alley.

_"You asleep?" she had asked_

_"I was," Ruby replied as she rolled to look at her sister. "Something wrong?"_

_"You hear or see any unusual activity in the neighborhood this afternoon?"_

_"No," Ruby replied. "Not a thing."_

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She walked outside and into the alley and looked up and down. She glanced at her bin and noticed a smear on dirt on top. Leaning closer she found an imprint in the dirt. It bore the familiar pattern of Ruby's favorite boots. Next to the bin was another set of boot prints. Prue slid her digital camera from her pocket and took pictures of both before returning the device to her pocket. Standing on her tiptoes, she tried to look over the six-foot fence to see what her sister had seen. After a couple of hops, she gave up and opened the gate to look at the yard.

The trash had been long since picked up, but she could see imprints where she and Nick had been on their knees in the soft dirt of the footpath that led from the house to the gate. She blinked as she remembered the brief conversation.

_Prue shook her head as she handed him one of the bags and tore a second one open to dump it on the back lawn. "I don't know," she replied. "I'm surprised she isn't here." She looked at the darkening sky. "She doesn't like being out after dark." Frustrated, she threw a handful of trash in the air._

_"Hey," Nick grasped her arm then touched her face, holding his gloved hand there. "It's OK, we'll find it."_

_Prue took a breath and looked at Nick. "I know. I'm just scared."_

_"Of what?"_

_"I think Ruby..."_

_"Don't," Nick said and shook his head. "Don't think the worst until we know for sure."_

_Slowly, Prue nodded and looked back down at the piles of trash. "OK," she said._

_Nick released her face and they searched in silence._

Suddenly, Prue's jaw dropped. _He had touched her face_. A gentle touch, almost romantic. If she hadn't been so frustrated at the time she would have seen it then. She knew Ruby's next target. It was Nick.

She pulled her phone out and dialed Nick's cell number. When there was no answer, she tried Grissom.

"Grissom," he answered.

"Griss," Prue began. "Are you at the lab?"

"Yeah," Gil answered. "What's going on?"

"I got a call from Ruby," she said. "Do you know where Nick is?"

"I sent him home to get some sleep," Gil replied. "He's hardly been home since the case started. Is everything OK?"

Prue briefly told him of the phone call. "She's capable of anything," she said. "But I didn't think she'd be capable of this."

"Why are you looking for Nick?"

"Just a hunch," she replied.

"Do you want me to send Brass over?"

"I'll go over," Prue said. "If she is there, the presence of police might make her do something drastic. Have him go over, but tell him not to hurry."

"I will," Gil told her. "But you be careful."

Prue took a deep breath. "I will," she replied then hung up.

_When the flashing lights cut through the billowing dust  
__Her voices cried "Looks like it's not just us, just us"  
__Guess she got a little careless with cadaver eleven_

Nick stepped into the hot shower and let the hot water pour over his tired body for a few minutes. He rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair, making sure all was wet so he could soap up. He washed his hair then shaved in the steam proof mirror that hung from the showerhead. After rinsing he stood in the hot spray until it started to turn cold then shut the water off.

He pushed the curtain aside and stepped out of the tub where he grabbed a towel and dried off, rubbing his hair as he walked into his bedroom. He tossed the towel in a basket and pulled on a pair of boxers. He was getting ready to grab a pair of jeans when he was blind sided by a lamp, falling forward to the floor.

He clung to consciousness as he felt someone flip him over. A face that he remembered seeing in photographs somewhere floated in front of his face. His mind felt muggy. Things grew muggier as he felt the hands around his throat, tightening, cutting off the supply of air to his lungs and the supply of oxygen-rich blood to his brain.

He struggled but found he couldn't fight the strength behind those hands, the blow to the head having stunned him enough to make sure of that. He heard a shout and the grip tightened slightly before he was suddenly able to breathe again. He gasped for air then coughed as he tried to stay conscious.

When Prue arrived at Nick's place, she found the front door slightly ajar and the lock broken. She placed a hand on her gun and unsnapped the holster so she could have easy access to the weapon if necessary. Slowly, she went in and started a basic room-to-room. She peeked into the kitchen then turned to the bathroom where she saw and smelled evidence of someone having taken a shower very recently.

"Please don't let him be buck naked," she prayed in a whispered tone and moved on to the next doorway.

Prue gasped when she saw Ruby on top of nick as he struggled against her hands. Blood poured from a cut in his forehead. "Ruby, No!" She exclaimed.

Ruby tightened he grip so Prue tackled her, pushing her away from Nick. They struggled at the foot of the bed for several minutes until Ruby broke free. Prue looked up in time to see Ruby slam a foot into Nick's side. He groaned and clutched at it. Ruby stepped on him as she ran out.

"RUBY!" Prue screamed.

Ruby headed for the front door as Prue ran to the door of the room. Ruby pulled open the front door only to find that Brass had arrived with the troops. She ran back down the hall where Prue was standing and tried to stop her by grabbing her arm. With her free arm, Ruby swung and connected with Prue's nose. Prue felt a pop in her nose and unconsciously released her sister's arm. Blood poured from her face as she fell to the floor. When Prue returned to her senses, her sister was gone.

She crawled to where Nick was still gripping his side and gasping for air. She touched his face and he jumped, pulling away. "Nick, it's me," she said softly.

Nick swore just as softly and she smiled. "I take it you're OK?" she asked.

He nodded then looked at her. "That was Ruby, wasn't it?' he asked hoarsely.

She nodded back. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Not your fault," he replied. "You're bleeding."

Prue touched her face and came away with blood on her fingertips. "So are you," she told him with a gesture to his head.

As he brought a shivering hand up, Prue realized that he was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. She helped him sit up and grabbed a blanket from the bed to wrap him in. She then grabbed the still damp towel from the basket to clean his head. He stopped her and changed directions with it, cleaning the blood from her face as she winced at the pain in her nose.

A noise from the door and both turned to Brass as he cleared his throat to get their attention. "You two OK?" he asked them.

"I think so," Prue replied as she helped Nick off the floor. He was favoring his right side where Ruby had kicked him. "Did you get her?"

Slowly, Brass shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "Got any ideas?"

Prue shook he own head. "No," she said. "I have no idea where she could have gone."

Brass sighed in frustration. "Let's get you two to the hospital and get you checked out."

_Before she'll go to jail she'd rather go to Heaven  
__And the final leap of faith of a zealot Jezebel  
__Led'em diggin' in the bottom of a dead wishing well_

Six hours later, both Nick and Prue had been given a clean bill of health and released from the hospital, Prue sporting a stiff nose brace and Nick with a large square of gauze held over the gash on his head by medical tape. They had no more been released when both were paged to the top floor of the Palms Hotel.

The doors of the express elevator opened to the top floor of the building and they stepped out to find Brass waiting for them. "She's just waiting for you," he said to Prue. He led them up a flight of stairs to the roof.

Ruby stood on the ledge with her back to them. "Ruby!" Prue exclaimed. She ran forward as her sister turned.

"Stop!" Ruby exclaimed and Prue came to a halt just outside of arms length from her. Ruby took a step closer to the edge. "Don't come any closer." Prue nodded and stayed where she was. "Sorry about the nose."

"No big," Prue replied. "Just come down from there. Please."

"No," Ruby replied and glanced up. "Aw, what'd you bring him for?"

Prue glanced back to see that Brass and Nick were inching toward them. "Tell them to stop," Ruby said with a tiny step back to prove her point.

"OK, OK," Prue said and signaled for Brass and Nick to stop. "They won't come any nearer. I promise." She looked back to make sure and Nick gave a small signal that said, we'll stay back but we're there if you need us. "What's going on with you? What happened that started this?"

"Foster," Ruby replied. "Why didn't you just change your name back after the divorce? Maybe he wouldn't have found you."

"I don't know," Prue said as she took a slow step closer. "Why keep killing?"

"A woman's work is never done!" Ruby exclaimed.

"You took it upon yourself to clean house," Prue said. "So to speak."

"I saw them, all of them," she said.

_In the store, buying the red paint to cover the stains made when she killed Foster, Ruby ran into Julie Madison, her eye purple and swollen. "I fell," she'd said when she saw Ruby looking. Ruby nodded, recognizing the lie when it was uttered for what it was. The Voices in her head muttered to each other 'Her husband is trash. Someone should take the trash out.'_

_On the way home, she passed a child sitting on the sidewalk and when she approached him, he jumped. "Don't touch me," he cried._

_"Who did this to you?" Ruby asked. "Who made you scared of me?"_

_The boy began to cry and muttered an answer. Ruby moved closer and asked him to repeat it. "My babysitter," he replied._

_"What was the babysitter's name?"_

_"Janine," he whispered. "You aren't gonna tell, are you?"_

_"No," Ruby said the voices screaming at her, 'Trash! She's trash! Take the Garbage out! "I'll take care of it. She won't hurt you any more. I promise."_

_The boy wiped the tears from his face. "I won't be scared any more if you do."_

_She touched his head gently and picked up her paint moving on down the street._

_Half an hour later, she arrived at her front door. The man across the street ran over when he saw her and opened the door for her. She set the paint down just inside the door as she remembered the notice they had received a few weeks before concerning this man. He was Buck Trophyl, a rapist._

_He flirted for a few minutes then gently touched her bare arm. Ruby pulled away and went into the house, closing the door after her. She watched through the peephole as he walked down the sidewalk. He threw a cocky glance over his shoulder and smiled as he returned to his home._

_Ruby shivered and made a barfing noise. "Ewww," she said. She turned to the room and surveyed the damage. All she had to do was paint over the blood spatter on the wall and her cleaning job would be done...for now. Tomorrow, she would have to take the garbage out._

"That's how you chose your victims," Prue said. "The voices told you they were trash and that you had to take the garbage out." Ruby nodded. "What do they tell you now?"

Ruby closed her eyes. "Looks like it's not just us," she said. "Justice." She opened her eyes. "I won't go back to the hospital," she said. "And I'm not going to jail."

"You might have to go back to the hospital," Prue said with another step forward.

"No," Ruby said. "No hospital, no Jail." She spread her arms wide. "I'm going to heaven." She started to fall backwards off the building.

Prue leapt forward and barely grabbed onto Ruby's hand and held on for dear life as her sister slammed into the side of the building. She felt Nick beside her as he reached for Ruby. Brass joined them on the other side and together they tried to pull Ruby up.

She clawed at Brass and he jerked back. Nick pulled back when she bit at him at the same time. Before either could go back to holding her, her hand slipped out of Prue's grasp.

"NO!" Prue screamed as she watched Ruby tumble down. Nick pulled her away and into his arms. "No," Prue repeated. "No, no, no, no."

Brass looked over the edge then back at Nick. He shook his head and Nick held her tighter as she cried.

The End? You tell me. I kind of get stuck at the end of stories like this, so I would love suggestions from readers.


End file.
